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I used to sail a lot with the CNR in Spain, I remember when they built this boat very well, it was something never seen before for us. Not dead yet, but looking bad. She was taken back to her mooring, but it's not the first time this happens

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This is a problem worldwide; old boats, large and small, change hands, again and again, each time the new owners have great plans but not much in the way of resources. The boats deteriorate. We see smaller boats selling in California for a few thousand dollars and some bozo buys it and says to his friends, " Hey, I got this boat, lets sail to Mexico." They get here, find out it's hot, boat work isn't much fun, and their girl friends want to know when they are coming home. They leave it anchored somewhere and fly back. Why not, they've got nothing invested in it. And a good old boat becomes a derelict and a problem for someone else when it goes adrift.

Take the bigger boats, a grand old maxi, for example. Yeah, I know, dinosaurs, but they are beautiful under sail, awesome really. I love them. And the equipment that they have simply cannot be bought anymore. And, not much market for these boats outside of Arlie Beach, so the price drops. Now along comes some guy with a couple hundred grand and good intentions and he buys an old maxi. Oh yeah it takes 20 people to sail it. And the broken bits are outrageous to fix. So the boat sits, and deteriorates.

And how can we as a society, afford to do this? How can we take an object which represents so much human endeavor to design and build, including all the tech bits and equipment, countless hours of effort, and just throw it away. I have to shake my head.

I don't know the solution to this, but it makes me sad to see grand old boats go to waste and eventually become wrecks.

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This is a problem worldwide; old boats, large and small, change hands, again and again, each time the new owners have great plans but not much in the way of resources. The boats deteriorate. We see smaller boats selling in California for a few thousand dollars and some bozo buys it and says to his friends, " Hey, I got this boat, lets sail to Mexico." They get here, find out it's hot, boat work isn't much fun, and their girl friends want to know when they are coming home. They leave it anchored somewhere and fly back. Why not, they've got nothing invested in it. And a good old boat becomes a derelict and a problem for someone else when it goes adrift.

Take the bigger boats, a grand old maxi, for example. Yeah, I know, dinosaurs, but they are beautiful under sail, awesome really. I love them. And the equipment that they have simply cannot be bought anymore. And, not much market for these boats outside of Arlie Beach, so the price drops. Now along comes some guy with a couple hundred grand and good intentions and he buys an old maxi. Oh yeah it takes 20 people to sail it. And the broken bits are outrageous to fix. So the boat sits, and deteriorates.

And how can we as a society, afford to do this? How can we take an object which represents so much human endeavor to design and build, including all the tech bits and equipment, countless hours of effort, and just throw it away. I have to shake my head.

I don't know the solution to this, but it makes me sad to see grand old boats go to waste and eventually become wrecks.

In a way, it's a problem of changing culture. The people who rise to (or born into) a position of being able to own & care for such a thing do not have the interest or the sense of connection. It's all about build some new self-aggrandizing show-off piece, which will then become a cast-off toy of the near future (most are butt-ugly anyway).

Luckily there are a few people with both vast riches and good taste. Look at the resurgence in the J-class. Personally I think calling a boat "RANGER" when it's got a deckhouse is kinda silly but it's not up to me. I'd probably have a 1920s steam yacht, too.

And there are some nice new megayachts too they just don't get as much attention.

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Having worked on a Farr 40 from '82 I get the problem. Balsa decks, corroded fittings, track that has holes, life is tough on an IOR. We don't have a billion dollar budget but we do have passion. @wingsail got it right. You need to be committed and stuff still happens. https://www.facebook.com/IndianPacificYacht

As a long time sailor I see the contrast between carbon flyers and grp/balsa/foam/kevlar boats of yester year. I built a Farrier F22R and race a Farr 40 just as often. People have dreams and they get shattered or shat on.

The key is whatever gets people on the water. You just need to make it fun and people keep on coming back.